Letters to the editor for Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Wednesday

Sep 26, 2012 at 2:00 AM

Because of the record level of unemployment, New York State has borrowed over $4 billion from the federal unemployment insurance trust fund since 2009. The state must pay approximately $102 million in interest on these loans by Sept. 30. To pay this interest, the state is assessing a charge on all employers, up to $12.75 per employee.

Because of the record level of unemployment, New York State has borrowed over $4 billion from the federal unemployment insurance trust fund since 2009. The state must pay approximately $102 million in interest on these loans by Sept. 30. To pay this interest, the state is assessing a charge on all employers, up to $12.75 per employee.

So why does Governor Cuomo delay the start of drilling for natural gas with the resulting jobs and revenue? He has said that science should prevail, not emotion.

We watch as Pennsylvania and Ohio continue to benefit from the activity of drilling in their states. We watch as support industries locate in Pennsylvania, instead of New York.

The opponents of drilling tout speculative and exaggerated claims of pollution, health effects, road degradation and everything else they can think of as politicians, who know squat about the process of hydro-fracturing, climb on a cheap bandwagon.

The governor should heed the testimony of experts in geology, such as Dr. Scott Kline Ph.D. and ignore the overheated, cult-like action of what is most surely a minority of the population.

Edward Allees

Jeffersonville

Misuse of athletic track

Kudos to the Middletown School District, who after four years, and much prodding, has recognized that our physical education students and student athletes deserve to fully use the athletic field adjacent to the Twin Towers Middle School. It is heartwarming to witness classes being taught and games being contested on a field that was paid for by their parents, but whose children were not given access.

However, a problem continues to exist which has not been fully addressed by the District. By my count, since the advent of warm weather in April, 168 bicycles, scooters, carriages and strollers have been on the track. The District has posted signs at the track entrance not allowing any wheeled object. Obviously, its warning has gone unheeded. I call on the District to better monitor this valuable community asset by increasing the range of the District security vehicle to include the track, and directing Building and Grounds personnel who observe those objects on the track to speak to the offenders. Middletown, as I have said previously, when that facility has to be replaced over misuse, you will be asked to pay again. Don't let that happen.

Alan Thorenz

Middletown

Barack Obama really is the perfect president; however, the question is, "For what kind of people is he the perfect president?"

For people who do not want to develop their talents and earn their own way (like those who oppose the American Dream), he is their president.

For people who believe we should appease our enemies (as Chamberlain did with Hitler), he is their president.

For people who believe the poor and the middle class should get poorer while the ruling class gets richer (as the Communists did in the Soviet Union), he is their president.

For people who don't mind being lied to, manipulated, and deceived (like people who just want to be taken care of and not asked to think), he is their president.

For people who are not proud of America and the idea on which she was founded (like Michelle Obama, who only found reason to be proud of America after her husband received the nomination), he is their president.

Yes, Obama is the perfect president, maybe just not for the United States.

We need a change so that we can once again have hope.

My fellow Americans, please vote on Election Day!

Jane Heinsman

Wallkill

Remember when he was running for president? He was going to appoint someone to go over the budget "line by line to eliminate waste." What happened to that?

He turned down the Keystone Pipeline. How could that not mean cheaper gas prices? Or at the very least, we would send money to Canada for oil instead of to people who hate us. Please contact your House and Senate representatives to change this radical decision. Gas prices are killing us.

Gov. Romney and Congressman Ryan will be a breath of fresh air. They are both proud Americans. Romney, a business genius, with sound world policy views combined with Ryan, a budget genius, whose ideas can save Medicare and Social Security and save our children's and grandchildren's futures from being buried in debt.

We need a change, America. We are on the wrong path. We can't keep spending more than we have. No one can. Europe is proving that. Our children deserve the American Dream. We have to get rid of the borrow, tax and spend politicians. They are destroying America's future. If these two men, with their qualifications, can't fix America, then no one can.

Simple choice!

Bruce Mark

Hopewell Junction

This is a response to the article "Understanding the empathy gap" by Charles Krauthammer. There were many facts, and, possibly, some misguided opinions. "Obama passed Obamacare, regulated Wall Street, subsidized Solyndra (facts) because that fits an ambitious left-wing agenda developed in his youth "¦ disdainful of success, suspicious of private enterprise, committed to his own vision of social justice" (opinion). Mr. Krauthammer seems to contradict himself. Although I might not agree with this policy, President Obama regulated Wall Street and bailed out the auto industry to preserve American jobs. He subsidized Solyndra to create jobs for Americans, now and for the future. This is not a policy that is disdainful of success or suspicious of private enterprise.

Ironically, on the same page, the article "US health care facts "¦" by Ken Hall, give several facts to support his premise. The United States ranks 37th in health care among all nations "¦ Americans younger than 65 are more likely to die from a lack of timely health care than their peers in France, Germany or the United Kingdom "¦ women died unnecessarily at the highest rates when compared to other nations. These countries have Universal Health Care. You can draw your own opinion about these facts.

Brant Matises

Accord

The presidential election is more than a choice between two individuals. It's between democracy and oligarchy.

Obama's vision is a democracy where government exists to further the endeavors of its people. It maintains programs for the common good. It embraces the middle class and those who aspire to it — to help them realize the American dream. It secures Medicare, Medicaid, health insurance, Social Security, education, research and infrastructure. It raises revenue necessary for military defense, and equally important, funds programs for the public good.

A vote for Romney is a vote for oligarchy. His administration would exist for the good of the wealthy few who funded his campaign, and have invested tens of millions to buy the government they want. The historically low taxes they now pay will be substantially cut. Romney's tax rate will be less than 1 percent. Speak about income redistribution!

Conservatives believe in survival of the fittest "¦ the wealthiest 1 percent. For Romney, "corporations are people." He has stated that entitlements are wasteful, unnecessary and that they serve the 47 percent of freeloading "irresponsible Americans" who are recipients of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, health care, education, veteran, and unemployment benefits.